Upon entering the redesigned office space that housed the informal get-together, my eyes were immediately drawn to a demo station featuring Donkey Kong’s apish mug. I’ve always been a fan of the Donkey Kong brand, and that’s especially true of the Donkey Kong Country franchise, which took almost as much of my childhood gaming time as EA Sports’ NHL series. For that reason, the announcement of a brand new iteration during Nintendo’s E3 2013 livestream got me excited, and had me looking forward to going hands on with its barrel-filled action.
Utilizing a WiiMote-based control scheme that Donkey Kong Country Returns veterans will be accustomed to, Retro Studios’ latest gift (as Nintendo calls it) didn’t fail to impress from the start of its first demo stage to the time where I figured I would stop playing it and try other things. First off, it’s beautiful-looking in high-definition, with a great shine and excellent amounts of colour and detail. The character models look the best they ever have, the stages are gorgeous and fully animated in front and back, and the gameplay is a treat to watch. What’s also great is that it plays just about as well as it looks, though I would’ve preferred the option to have used the GamePad for controlling DK than said WiiMote scheme. However, I guess you can’t get everything you want.
Everything I did, from jumping from platform to platform, to solving puzzles by using the ape’s mammoth hands, was expectedly tight and easy to grasp. Sure, the motion controls weren’t ideal to someone who prefers standard controls over anything else, but they worked well and I cannot complain at all. Plus, even when I did get hit by something, the repercussions weren’t as bad as what the game’s predecessor presented. That’s because DK and company all have three hearts this time around, and it seems as if possessing two characters at one time doubles the player’s available hit points from three to six, letting the secondary character take damage until his (or her) meter expires.
Although I know it’s going to end up being a masochist’s dream, and may have me wanting to pull my hair out at times, I’m eagerly looking forward to the day when Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze swings into high-definition on Nintendo’s Wii U. I only got a chance to play it for a bit, choosing to try traditional stages and one basic but engaging boss battle, but what I played was very impressive.
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